Most
living kidney donors in the United States are either overweight or mildly
obese, and their numbers continue to increase, new data presented at the
National Kidney Foundation’s 2019 Spring Clinical Meetings in Boston suggest.
The number of living kidney donors classified as moderately to morbidly obese
is declining.

Nupur
Uppal, MD, and colleagues at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
in Great Neck, New York, identified the trends by analyzing data from 105,913
living kidney donors reported to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network
from 1999 to 2018. Of these patients, 35%, 41%, 19%, and 4% were classified as normal
weight (NW), overweight (OW), mildly obese (MO), and moderately to morbidly
obese (MMo), respectively.

The
investigators divided the study period into 2 decades. Of 51,248 living donors
during 1999 to 2008, 36%, 40%, 18%, and 5% were classified as NW, OW, MO, and MMo,
respectively. Of 54,665 donors during 2009 to 2018, 34%, 43%, 20%, and 3% were
classified as NW, OW, MO, and MMo respectively.

NW,
OW, MO, and MMo were defined as a body mass index (in kg/m2) of 18.5
to <25, 25 to <30, 30 to <35, and 35 or higher, respectively.

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“Overall, partner/spouse, biologically related donors, and
male donors were more likely to be in the OW and obese categories,” Dr Uppal’s
team reported in a poster presentation. “African American, Hispanic, and
American Indian/Alaska Native females were more likely to be in the obese
categories as were Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native males when
compared to other ethnicity groups.”